Judge Says: Dell Deceived Customers

Dell has been found guilty of deceiving customers in a "bait and switch" scheme in a lawsuit in the US, according to CNN. The suit was taken to court in 2007 by a New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, on behalf of numerous Dell customers and this week the ruling was made, in a 26-page document, by Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi.
The ruling stated that "Dell has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates".

Cuomo was understandably pleased with the decision, commenting: "For too long at Dell, the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all. We have won an important victory that will force Dell to live up to its responsibilities and pay back its customers for profits that were pocketed but not deserved'.

Customers affected by Dell's actions in this matter are to be compensated, although by how much is yet to be decided. Dell says the complaints amount to less than 0.01 per cent of its total customers in New York during the time of these allegations, although as Teresi said, that's no excuse for misleading customers. Hopefully this court case will ensure that Dell pulls its act together henceforth.